In the midst of creating a fall-inspired wreath for our front door, I attached an ‘Eid Mubarak message to greet family, friends, and passers-by … Yes, I know it has been a long while since I have written. Welcome back to all of us.

And choosing a plant that has brightly colored foliage also helps perk up a dreary workspace.

If your kitchen does not have a window, install a small florescent light fixture underneath a cabinet to provide light for the plant.

The photo above is what we did in our kitchen. We also placed a mirror behind the plant to reflect the light from the florescent fixture under the cabinet, and the bright colors from both the container and the plant.

House plants are truly such an easy and inexpensive way to liven up the kitchen.

Learn the history of things. Legacies encourage healthy self-esteem and a higher level of happiness.

¸.♥´Mom

The Origins of the Tulip

Most people believe that the tulip flower comes from Holland.

They do not.

Tulips originated in Turkey (Central Asia) where they were cultivated 600 years before ever arriving in Europe.

The flower was so celebrated in the Ottoman Empire that hand-woven carpets in palaces often featured tulips as a central motif.

Tulips still continue to be featured in Turkish textiles and clothing, artwork, tiles, embroidery and more.

Now that you know a little bit more about your Islamic heritage, how can you incorporate tulips into your garden? Have you considered painting or sketching tulips as art for your home? How can you use the tulip as a motif in an original artistic creation?

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I picked up a little design tip several years back: arrange the books on your bookshelves by color!

I think this was something I knew intuitively but was afraid to acknowledge since the societal norm is to arrange books by subject, title, or author.

20,000 Adobe Bookshop books organized by the color wheel (Flickr).

However, placing books with similar coloring next to one another can make an otherwise cluttered book case look serene, well-organized, calm. Pretty.

One unexpected side effect from this method, is that I can actually find books better! While I may not remember who wrote a book or it’s exact title, I do remember things such as. it was the one with the blue cover, or it was the tiny green one.

I also find that books get read more often. There is something about seeing, for example, a red-colored book sitting in with other red-colored books that make folks want to pick it up to see what that red book is all about.

And it is so easy to tell a child to put his books away when they are shelved based on color. You can make a game out of it. Games motivate children.

But what I love most is what visitors say: Wow! You have a lot of books!” Really, we don’t. But it looks that way because of the blocks of color. The book case immediately catches the eye. And it becomes a topic of conversation. It has become a piece of art.

Not only that, but people think you’re smart. They think you’ve actually read all the books. And they also think that you must love them since you took the time to group them by color. Only someone who loves something spends time making it look nice.

One of my favorite motifs is Arbesque. Especially beautiful is the Moroccan expression of this design.

With that in mind, here is what I did to a patio light fixture. It’s not necessarily Arabesque or Moroccan, but it works in nicely towards the overall look.

Before photo:

«– Dull and boring, huh?

The new light treatment (photo below) was simple really. It was 15% perspiration, 150% inspiration. It took more thinking and figuring than it did actual work. I knew what I wanted—a non-permanant Arabequeish light cover that would not block the light from the bulb—but I had no idea how to do that.

Then it hit me and the 15% perspiration followed!

Supplies

Gossip Bluebird Pop Culture Lace Cardstock from KI Memories

Sheet protector

Spray paint in Expresso

Ruler

Yarn

Sharpie marker

Scotch tape

I love the lace cardstock. I had been ogling over it for a very long time. Finally, it went on sale for $1.19, down from the original $1.99 price. Then I used a 25% off coupon and paid 89¢ for it!

Method
First I needed the globe’s dimensions.

Because I didn’t want to remove the globe, I measured all the way around the it using a piece of yarn; 14-inches. I added 1.5 inches to that to get 15.5 inches.

I also measured the height of the globe with the ruler; 5 inches. I added 1/4 of an inch to that to get 5.25 inches.

Next, the sheet protector! I only cut two edges of the sheet protector: the bottom seam, and the side that has the holes punched in it. Now I had one big sheet of plastic that was approximately 22×17 inches.

For the next phase, I cut the plastic sheet to the size of my yarn and ruler measurements: a rectangle measuring 5.25 inches high and 15.5 inches long.

Then I got out the lace scrapbook paper and placed it on top of the plastic rectangle using binder clips to keep the plastic attached to the paper.

I took the entire thing outside and put it on newspaper. I spray painted that beautiful paper! But that was the only way to get the design onto the plastic.

I let it dry for 24 hours.

After that, I wrapped the newly designed piece of plastic around the globe. The extra length made it easy to overlap the plastic and adhere it to itself with scotch tape!

TV - Yes or No? [PDF] The Permanent Committee of Scholars have stated (in a fatwa) that the television is an instrument that in and of itself has no ruling regarding it; rather, the ruling applies to its use -- Dr. Saleh as-Saleh (rahimahullaah)